Forgetting words as you get older

Hi there

Sigh, with age comes forgetfulness.  My friends and I "lose" words.  In mid-conversation, words suddenly  disappear from our heads. However, about 2 am, maybe a good half-a-dozen hours after such a conversation,  I will wake up with a start and triumphantly shout "Crumpet"!   It's so good to know the word has not gone forever.

I have just watched veteran actor Ian McKellen talking to tv chat-show host, Graham Norton.  McKellen hesitated twice while he searched for words and I thought of a phone-call I'd had this morning with my swimming friend, J.  I was trying to get her to identify an object with a name to it that, all at once, I couldn't remember -

"It's big.  It moves around a warehouse.  A guy sits on it," I said.

She didn't have a clue.

"It carries cartons.  It's got prongs."

"Prongs?  Prongs..."  my friend ruminated for a time.  Then she screamed, "A FORKLIFT!"

"Oh, yes!"

What are friends for if not to help you out in a word-forgetting crisis?  I swear I will repay her.  Just wait until she has such a memory block - I will be there in a trice with my Pocket Oxford, if not my memory...